


and i will owlways love you

by ryneisaterriblefan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bokuto Koutarou Week 2018, Bokuto Koutarou is a Dork, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Owl Akaashi Keiji, T for swearing, aww thats a tag, bokuto is an owl nerd, im rly sorry for the bad and rushed ending, this is a wreck pls read at your own caution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 18:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14721591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryneisaterriblefan/pseuds/ryneisaterriblefan
Summary: Koutarou isn’t really known for his good ideas, but taking an injured owl home was definitely in the top ten Bokuto’s Bad Ideas list.Or not.//Bokuto Week - Day 1: Owls





	and i will owlways love you

**Author's Note:**

> Ahahahah someone stop me

 Koutarou swears.

He’s late for school.

And on top of that, he’s already had a bad morning.

Koutarou’s planning to make a full dash to practice and maybe not endure Akaashi’s subtly disappointed look, but of course it’s not going how he wants it to.

Just as Koutarou’s rushing out of his house, there’s a rustle by the street. Normally, Koutarou would’ve ignored it but today, he looks at the bird that has fallen to the ground.

Koutarou’s eyes grow wide.

It’s an owl.

Rush forgotten, Koutarou slowly walks, trying to be quiet, towards the bird, reaching out to gently touch its head.

Amazingly, the creature doesn’t flinch away from him, instead nuzzling Koutarou’s hand as Koutarou continues to pet it.

‘Hey,’ he whispers, almost whispering, ‘What happened?’

The owl gives him a look, almost like it’s saying I am an owl, do you expect me to answer?

Koutarou laughs a bit, kneeling down and taking it in his arms, ‘Did anything happen to your wings?’

The owl hoots, almost like an affirmation, before it cries out a little when Koutarou jostles its left wing.

Koutarou starts, slipping off his jacket to try and wrap the owl comfortably in it. The owl looks like it’s protesting, using its claw to push the jacket away. ‘Hey, c’mon. I’ll try to find you a doctor or something after this.’

The owl looks like it wants to refuse, but reluctantly steps into Koutarou’s jacket so he can bundle it up and carry it to practice.

Oh god. Practice.

‘Fuck,’ Koutarou swears, trying to be fast and not hurt the owl at the same time.

The owl, luckily, only cries out once during his run, and Koutarou slams he door open to the gym twenty minutes late. Oops.

‘Bokuto,’ Konoha says, ‘you’re late.’

Koutarou nods, still out of breath and cheeks red after running in the cold. He’s still holding the owl in his jacket in one hand, the one that he isn’t currently using to hold himself up by the door.

Sarukui laughs, ‘Man, you look terrible. And why are you holding your jacket instead of wearing it?’

Koutarou starts, and exclaims, ‘N-no reason! I-I just, felt a bit warm today!’

Konoha looks at him disbelievingly. ‘Bokuto, you’re never warm.’

Before Koutarou replies, he notices someone. Or notices their lack of presence, thereof.

‘Where’s Akaashi?’

The entire team either groans or laughs at him, while Konoha answers, ‘He hasn’t come yet. Either he’s absent or late, which is honestly a bit worrying. Maybe he’s sick or something?’

Koutarou nods, mood a bit dulled by Akaashi’s absence, trudging to the locker to change, still holding his sweater.

‘Hey, Bokuto!’ Yukie shouts from behind him.

Koutarou turns, ‘Yes?’

Yukie grins, ‘When are you going to ask Akaashi out already?’

Koutarou turns a furious red at that, turning on his heel and marching towards the lockers with long step. ‘I don’t like him!’

‘Keep telling yourself that, Bo!’

 

‘Okay,’ Koutarou says, looking at the owl snuggled in his school bag - oh lord, the owl is smaller than a fully-grown, but it is definitely bigger than a baby and god, Koutarou doesn’t know how he’s going to keep this a secret from everyone.

‘I wish Akaashi was here so he could figure out what to do with you,’ he tells the owl, ‘And I don’t know what to feed you either.’

The owl looks at him - oh god, it’s so cute - and cocks its head towards the door, as if telling Koutarou to just go already.

Koutarou stands up, zipping his bag up and leaving a space for the owl to breathe.

He just hopes he doesn’t accidentally kill it.

 

Practice passes without any major mishaps - except for Koutarou going into his emo mode and it being significantly harder for him to manage without Akaashi.

On his way to class, Sarukui catches up with him, the owl still safely snuggled in Koutarou’s bag. ‘Hey, Bokuto.’

‘Saru,’ Koutarou returns, ‘Good game today, eh?’

Sarukui laughs, ‘You’re too obvious, you know?’

Koutarou freezes. ‘What?’

Giving him a pointed look, Sarukui says, ‘Your crush on Akaashi. I don’t know how he hasn’t figured it out yet, seeing as that he knows you so well.’

‘I don’t have a crush on Akaashi!’ Koutarou denies vehemently.

‘Y’know,’ Sarukui replies, ignoring Koutarou completely, ‘If you’re worried about him being homophobic, then you shouldn’t worry.’

‘Why?’

‘Dude, have you seen the guy?’ Sarukui considers for a second, then continues, ‘Nevermind, don’t answer that. (‘Hey!’) My point is, no one could look so good in the practice shorts without being gay.’

The logic is obviously flawed.

Koutarou whines, ‘Yeah, but what if he hates me? What if he stops talking to me because he feels uncomfortable around me?’

‘I don’t think Akaashi’s the person to do that,’ Konoha slips in.

‘But!’ Koutarou whines, ‘My dreams and hopes are going to be crushed when Akaashi rejects me!’

‘If Akaashi rejects you,’ Konoha reminds him.

‘Ugh,’ Koutarou says miserably. Konoha and Sarukui pat him sympathetically on the back.

 

Koutarou successfully gets through the school day without being found out - he still doesn’t know how, honestly.

Akaashi doesn’t show up to afternoon practice either, and Koutarou pushes his worries to the back of his mind by talking to his bird.

After eating half of Koutarou’s lunch, the owl seems pretty satisfied, nestling into the crook of Koutarou’s neck.

‘You need a name,’ Koutarou decides, holding up a finger to lightly ruffle the owl’s head.

The owl replies by nipping his finger gently. Koutarou laughs, gently holding the owl with one hand to put it on his bed and stare at him.

The owl stares forlornly back at him.

‘Keiji,’ Koutarou decides, holding it up into the air.

‘I will call you Keiji,’ he tells it, ‘named after the love of my life which is never going to be requited.’

The owl looks almost incredulous, large eyes unblinking at him, and Koutarou can almost hear it saying, that’s stupid.

Koutarou doesn’t know why, but the owl really reminds him of Akaashi. ‘You remind me of him,’ he tells Keiji.

If owls could roll their eyes, this owl probably would’ve.

‘And you’re a rufous-legged owl,’ he says, ‘and that means Akaashi, so that’s your name.’

Tucking its wing into itself, Keiji wriggles in Koutarou’s grasp, and he puts it down onto his chest. Keiji wanders around, tiny claws catching on some parts of the shirt Koutarou’s wearing.

‘Okay,’ Koutarou says, siting up and taking Keiji on his hands, ‘You stay on the bed, okay? I’ll get a first-aid kit for your wing.’

It’s very unlikely that a bird is actually going to do what he says, but Koutarou finds Keiji sat in the exact same spot he left him and thinks that Keiji might be a really smart bird.

As Koutarou sets the kk down onto the bed, Keiji hops into his lap, spreading his wing so that Koutarou can see where the sprain is, feathers mixed with blood from some cuts on the skin.

‘I’ll clean your wing first, okay?’ Koutarou says softly, letting the bird perch on his arm and carrying it to the bathroom. Keiji lets out a soft hoot.

Setting Keiji on the counter, Koutarou takes a bowl and fills it with warm water, soaking a towel before rubbing it gently over the blood-crusted areas.

Keiji screeches a little, flinching at first before extending his wing again. ‘Sorry,’ Koutarou apologizes.

Koutarou tries to be as gentle as possible, washing the feathers and spraying a disinfectant on the cuts, and wraps a bandage around the wing to let it rest in place.

He’s not any bird expert, but, hey, years of research on owls have given him a pretty good insight on how they work.

Keiji looks up at him, tucking his wing beside him to make himself comfortable, and hops across the counter, hooting gently as Koutarou leans down and nuzzles its beak with his nose.

Koutarou smiles.

 

Akaashi’s absent again.

Koutarou tries not to worry as their coach tells them that Akaashi’s taken leave from school as he’s sick, and instead tries to focus on spiking instead.

In the middle of practice, Koutarou’s thoughts wander to his owl. He’d left it with a bowl of water and food, but he doesn’t know if he’s going to return home and find Keiji somehow getting himself into trouble.

In all honesty, Keiji’s a lot like the actual Akaashi - the way he seems to look at Koutarou when he says something particularly stupid, the way he’s elegant and graceful even with a broken wing, even the way he refuses to accept Koutarou’s help at first.

The only difference is that owl Keiji is really cuddly.

Then again, the owl had woken him up by hooting really loudly in the morning, and Koutarou had had to trip across his room to shut the owl up.

Akaashi would never do that to him.

A ball hits him in the face.

Koutarou falls to the ground, landing on his ass. The pain doesn’t hit him until a few minutes later, and he belatedly mumbles a ‘What?’ as his teammates crowd around him, half of them looking amused and the other half concerned.

‘Sorry, man,’ Sarukui apologizes, though there’s a smirk on his face. It could be his normal expression, but Koutarou still hasn’t learned to differentiate the two, even though they’ve been teammates for almost three years. ‘I thought you saw it coming, but I guess you were spacing out.’

‘Uh huh,’ Koutarou says, words going in one ear and out the other, ‘Right. Sorry?’

Pulling him up, Sarukui asks, ‘Are you okay? Do you wanna leave practice early?’

‘’M fine,’ Koutarou mumbles, ‘I just got a bit distracted.’

Sarukui looks like he wants to say something, but Konoha cuts in, ‘Yeah, captain, we all know you’re worried about your vice captain, but don’t space off because of him, alright?’

That brings Koutarou bak to earth. ‘I wasn’t thinking about him!’

‘Uh huh, yeah.’

Except he’d been thinking about Keiji the owl, and by extension, Akaashi, so Konoha technically wrong. But Konoha doesn’t need to know about them.

Koutarou huffs, calling for another toss and his teammates laugh at him.

 

When he gets home, Keiji isn’t there.

Of course, Koutarou panics immediately.

He searches everywhere he can think of, even going as far as looking below his bed, but he can’t find Keiji anywhere.

‘Mom!’

‘Yes?’

‘Have you seen an owl around here somewhere?’ Koutarou shouts, rushing around the house and trying to locate the bird.

‘Not if you don’t count yourself,’ she answers, laughing as Koutarou his around the living room, ‘Why? Did you bring in one of your birds again?’

‘No,’ Koutarou replies, stoically denying anything having to do with trying to are for any owls. Or birds, period.

His mom laughs.

 

Koutarou eventually does find Keiji, ironically on his bed. Under the covers, to be exact, because Koutarou’s a massive fucking idiot who doesn’t do things through carefully.

Lying back on his bed, Koutarou hugs Keiji to his chest, arms lightly resting around the owl.

‘You had me worried,’ he chastises softly, looking down at the owl, ‘I’ve also been worried about Akaashi.’

The owl looks up at him, and Koutarou continues, looking up at the ceiling, ‘He’s been absent for two days, and I’m worried. He’s never absent for that long.’

Keiji hoots softly, nuzzling into Koutarou’s chest, as if trying to comfort him. Koutarou smiles down at him.

They stay like that for a little while, and Koutarou eventually falls asleep.

 

When Koutarou wakes up, there’s a warm weight - definitely a person - on his chest. Thing is, he can’t remember hugging anyone before he fell asleep.

Wait.

His owl. Keiji.

Koutarou’s eyes flutter open, and he focuses on the ceiling as the memories from before he fell asleep return to him.

His arms are around somebody’s waist, and he can feel his back stiffening after staying in the position for so long.

There are also legs around his, Koutarou notes dazedly.

When he looks down at himself, he sees a head of dark hair.

‘What?’ Koutarou says before he can control himself.

The person looks up and - oh god it’s Akaashi how did he get here why is he in Koutarou’s arms why is he in Koutarou’s room where’s his bird -

‘Bokuto-san,’ Akaashi says, still not moving, ‘I can hear you thinking.’

Koutarou gapes, but just as he’s about to let go of Akaashi and apologize for whatever the hell happened, Akaashi tells him, ‘It’s okay, Bokuto-san. I can explain.’

Koutarou nods mutely, then remembers Akaashi can’t see him, so he says, ‘Okay.’

Akaashi sighs, ‘Thank you.’

Before saying anything, Akaashi rolls onto his side, then grabs Koutarou’s arm and puts it over his waist. Which means they’re essentially spooning. Oh god. Koutarou’s brain cells are going to die.

‘So,’ Akaashi starts, almost mumbling into Koutarou’s chest, ‘everyone in my family are shapeshifters.’

Koutarou freezes at that, but Akaashi continues, ‘I’m an owl, and we usually get the shapeshifting power at sixteen years old.

‘I was practicing flying, but some other birds startled me, and I broke my wing. And I was coincidentally in front of your house, so you found me.’

Koutarou nods, trying to get everything to sink in as he thinks over the facts that oh god Akaashi can shape-shift into an owl, and oh fucking hell it means he just confessed to his crush of two years and he wants to die.

‘Bokuto-san,’ Akaashi interrupts his internal rambling with a laugh.

Koutarou’s sure that his face is beet red and is suddenly very glad that their position right now is one where Akaashi can’t see him.

‘Thank you for taking care of me,’ Akaashi tells him, his arms tightening around Koutarou, ‘I can’t change back if I have any major injuries, or if I’m too wound up to concentrate.’

Koutarou nods, still wondering about Akaashi knowing about his frankly embarrassing crush on the setter.

‘Bokuto-san,’ Akaashi says a few moments later.

‘Mhm?’

‘I like you too,’ Akaashi tells him, and Koutarou’s world freezes for a moment.

He stays for several moments like this, taking in what Akaashi says, until Akaashi clears his throat from under him.

‘Well, Bokuto-san,’ Akaashi continues, amusement tinging his voice, ‘What’s your answer?’

Koutarou finally frees himself from Akaashi, staring down as the setter smiles teasingly at him.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Koutarou exclaims, eyes lighting up, and squishing Akaashi to his chest, ‘Of course I like you too!’

Akaashi’s laugh becomes one of Koutarou’s favorite noises.

 

‘Get it, Bokuto!’ Konoha shouts as Koutarou walks into the gym the next day holding Akaashi’s hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Look i never said I planned things out before writing  
> Also injuries from owl form doesn’t follow to human form thats why Akaashi wasn’t hurt  
> Idk lol I’m running on two hrs of sleep
> 
> Help


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